Style

Point of View

The novel is written in the first person point of view. The novel is written as though the main character is a middle-aged man looking back on a specific section of his childhood. The narrator is remembering the four years of World War II that changed his life. The narration then changes as though the man is a child again, but the author occasionally makes comments that remind the reader that this is a flashback from the perspective of an older man.

The point of view of this novel is an intimate point of view that allows a reader to connect closely with the main character. The reader cares what happens to the narrator even though he has committed an act that is distasteful. The point of view also allows the author to inject his own opinions into the narration and to expand on the...